Children of Time
by Forward Unto Dawn
Summary: Fic loosely based on a Nuzlocke Diamond run. One ordinary day, an ordinary girl sets out on an extraordinary journey.
1. First Encounter

"_It's not over yet! Come on!"_

_The man on the other side of the arena raised his hand to signal to his partner pokemon. I looked at my own teammate, who gave me a determined nod. In exact sync with one another, we turned to face our opponents. Simultaneous, perfect movements. The ultimate inseparable team. That was us. But our rivals were something different altogether. The man standing opposite me was thin, almost impossibly so, and clad in a long brown trench coat. His face was indiscernible, shrouded in shadow. But it didn't matter. I knew who he was. _

_His pokemon, on the other hand, was entirely mysterious to me. All I knew about it was what I could make out through the black mist surrounding them both. A shadow loomed above the man, gigantic and imposing. As my partner and I steeled ourselves for the battle ahead, the creature threw back its head and _screeched_._

"_Ready to give up now?" the man called, not unkindly, rather with an excited laugh, and a huge happy grin. "You know, I—"_

''—_Dawn_! Wake up, Dawn!"

My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright, very narrowly missing banging my head against my bookshelf. Giving my eyes a quick scrub with my fists, I swung my legs off the side of the bed and hopped to my feet. I immediately set to scrabbling about my room for my clothes and backpack. Meanwhile, my mother's cries continued.

"Dawn, are you up yet? Barry's here!"

I paused for a second to yell down the stairs. "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

Hoisting my backpack onto my shoulder, I clattered down the stairs to meet Barry, a lanky young boy with frizzy blond hair and a somewhat ridiculous-looking striped shirt. He lived in the house next door, and we had grown up together. He had always been rather hyperactive, but today, he was unusually impatient, hopping from foot to foot with an urgent look on his face. As I arrived, his despairing look split into a wide grin. As soon as I was within reach, he grabbed my wrist and tugged eagerly.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, time to go!"

Mum let out a small laugh, and shook her head in mock disapproval as Barry dragged me out the front door.

He led me hurriedly from the outskirts of the town toward the grassy route which lay beyond. Patches of taller grass sprouted here and there along the route. We avoided these carefully as we moved. Wild pokemon lurked within, and with no pokemon of our own, we would stand no chance against them. Moving along at a steady pace, slower now that Barry was starting to run out of breath, we came to a signpost in the centre of the route. Its three points indicated the paths to Twinleaf town, our home, Sandgem town, located through the tall grass to the east, and Lake Verity, our destination.

"It's that way!" Barry announced, pointing in the direction the signpost indicated. The open route continued for a short way before disappearing into the forest. When it emerged again, it revealed a breathtaking view of Lake Verity. Reflected sunlight danced off the surface of the prefect clear water, and the waist-length grass around the lake fringes swayed lightly in the gentle breeze. Even Barry stopped for a second to take it all in, his mouth forming a little 'o' of surprise. My expression mimicked his, as I gazed wordlessly at the sight before me.

"Alright!" Barry said, snapping me back to my senses. "We're finally here, now let's go find some rare pokem—hang on!" He stopped short, his gaze falling to an object lying in the tall grass.

We moved closer to inspect it, careful not to step in the grass ourselves. The item was a small briefcase, brown and slightly worn. The clasp was undone, and the lid had popped open. Inside, nestled among sheets of paper, pens, a small torch, and several other items, were three red pokeballs. Barry let out a small gasp of excitement, before turning to me, eyes glistening.

"Dawn! Look, someone left their pokeballs here!"

He jumped forward toward the briefcase, and I took a step after him. Suddenly realizing what I'd done, I stopped dead still, horrified. I grabbed Barry's wrist wordlessly, and he froze too. Not daring to move, our eyes raced back and forth, searching frantically for any sign of rustling around us.

We had stepped into the tall grass.

After a long minute, Barry let out the breath he had been holding. He slipped his wrist out of my grip and slowly drew it to his chest, rubbing carefully at the spot where my tight grip had hurt him.

"It's okay, there's not any wild—" he began, before his was cut off by a sudden, shrill shriek.

The grass in front of us rustled, and Barry's hand was suddenly back in mine. From the grass burst two starly, squawking and flapping furiously, evidently livid with us for invading their territory. Although the pokemon were small, they had glistening sharp beaks and talons which would very easily be able to badly injure an unprotected person.

Barry continued to back away, dragging me with him, until he reached the briefcase. Not daring to take his eyes off the starly, he reached down and snatched up the pokeballs, carefully holding them out to me.

"Take one," he hissed from the corner of his mouth.

I had to give him credit; his brain was just as fast as his feet. I picked out one of the balls gingerly and tapped the button on it as I had seen real trainers do. The ball expanded to fill my palm, and wobbled a little. It was warm to the touch, and I could feel a weight inside – not particularly heavy, but noticeable. Slowly, I moved to hold the ball out in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Barry had done the same.

I spoke shakily, carefully tapping the top of the ball.

"Pokemon, go."


	2. Everything Changes

"Pokemon, go."

At my command, the ball snapped open, and a jet of white light shot from within. I watched, astonished, as the light gathered into a sphere at my feet, and faded away to reveal a pokemon in its place. I recognised the small blue creature, with its sharp beak and silver-tipped wings, as a piplup. Immediately recognising the wild starly as an enemy, the piplup puffed out its chest and let out an angry squawk. One of the starly turned to face it, and mimicked its actions. The two pokemon stood, feathers fluffed and breasts thrust forward, as if part of some bizarre ritual. For a second, the two of them remained still. I did too, not even daring to breathe. Then, suddenly, the starly launched itself forward with an angry cry, flapping its wings wildly. Clumsily, my piplup dodged out of its path, and the starly collapsed in a tangled pile of feathers and claws.

Clambering back to its feet, the starly lurched bodily toward my piplup again. Unprepared for another attack so soon, my pokemon took the full force of the tackle. It was knocked to the ground by the assault, and was unable to dodge as the starly launched another attack. Countless thoughts raced through my mind simultaneously – what my mum was going to say when she heard about this, how the real owner of this pokemon felt about me using it, if Barry was going to be okay – and a brief image of a man with his face obscured by shadows.

My piplup had struggled back to its feet, and was now managing to counter the starly's assault with some success. I knew I had to give my pokemon an order. Tell it to attack. I took a deep breath, and waited until the starly drew back for another thrust.

"Piplup, attack now!"

Immediately, my piplup darted forward, ducking under the starly's failed attack, and slammed headfirst into the enemy's stomach with all its might. It staggered backwards from the blow and, for a moment, looked as though it would attack again. Instead, it gave one last angry screech and retreated into the long grass. Shaking and exhausted, I dropped to my knees and slowly released a breath that I didn't even realize I had been holding. My piplup let out a small satisfied chirp and waddled back toward me.

"Dawn, you did it! That was awesome!"

Looking up, I saw Barry with an even more cheerful grin than usual plastered on his face. At his feet stood a small and chubby turtwig, wearing a similar expression. The second starly was nowhere to be seen. I smiled back at him weakly.

"He's right, that wasn't a bad display," an unfamiliar voice said.

My head snapped up, and I scrabbled frantically to my feet. Barry let out a surprised yelp. Just beyond the patch of grass stood the voice's owner – a grey-haired man who, despite his obvious age, held himself upright in the manner of one much younger. I simply stared, shocked and transfixed, for a moment, before Barry snapped me back to reality by elbowing me sharply in the ribs.

"I know this guy!" he hissed, "He's the professor from the next town! These pokemon must belong to him!"

"You aren't the trainers of these pokemon, and yet, they fought for you, just like that..." the old man continued, completely ignoring Barry's interruption. He paused, glancing down at the two pokemon with an expression that might have been either confusion or amusement. Looking back at us, he held out a hand. "The pokeballs, if you will?"

I hesitated, so Barry took the initiative, stepping out of the grass and approaching the professor. He carefully placed the pokeball in the man's waiting palm. After a few seconds, I gathered the courage to do the same, handing him the ball, then retreating several steps.

"We're sorry," I began, avoiding his eyes, "About using your pokemon, I mean. We just—"

"You should go home," the professor cut me off, "As you've already seen, it's not safe to wander about here." He walked past us, to the briefcase which still lay open in the grass. I watched with a slightly bitter feeling as twin rays of red light engulfed and absorbed our pokemon.

_His pokemon,_ I mentally corrected myself, _His, not ours._

The professor placed the balls, with their pokemon safely returned, into his briefcase, and clicked the lid shut. I stood, mute, watching, until Barry tugged on my shirt, bring my attention back to him. Disappointment was just as obvious on his face as it must have been on mine. He said nothing, simply turned and headed back the way we had come. I stole one last glance at the professor, now straightening up and brushing dirt from his briefcase, before hurrying after him.

Neither of us said a word during the trip back to Twinleaf. When we arrived, Barry mumbled a dejected "see you later", and immediately vanished into his house. I trudged back to my own home, kicking my shoes off inside the door, and waved off Mum's inquiries about my trip as I made my way upstairs. I collapsed onto my bed, burying my head under a pillow, and squeezed my eyes shut.

I wondered what would happen to my – the professor's – piplup now. Was he going to give it to some trainer as their first pokemon? If he hadn't been come back for it, maybe I could have kept it. Maybe _I_ would have been that trainer, travelling the Sinnoh region with my faithful piplup at my side.

As I slowly began drifting toward sleep, thoughts swirled around my mind, half-formed ideas of challenging and battling gym leaders, of travelling through towns and forests with my friends and pokemon. Barry could come too, with that turtwig. We'd face every challenge together, and overcome them together, even the famed and powerful Elite Four. Eventually, we'd take on the League Champion herself, and –

"– _Back again? You just don't give up, do you?"_

_It was _him_ again, facing me across the arena, tossing a purple-lidded pokeball from hand to hand._

"_I _like_ that. Now, let's get on with it."_


End file.
